Underground cellphone coverage on BART expands

Whatever you think of cellphones on BART -- love 'em to call for that ride at the station, hate 'em when people are loud and rude -- cell coverage for underground stations and trackways is expanding.

With the recent addition of MetroPCS, all five of the Bay Area's cellular carriers are now underground at BART in San Francisco -- including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon.

Cellular and data service are available at Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell, and Civic Center stations and on the trackways between those stations.

Cellular and data service are available in the station areas of 16th Street, 24th Street, Glen Park and Balboa Park stations. The trackways between these stations will be on the air by the end of this year.

In 2009, the cellular carriers plan to extend service through the Transbay Tube and into the downtown Oakland stations.